She is, according to the Croatian media, the only Croat every to be received by the Queen at Buckingham Palace, and so it is a true honour that Vivian Grisogono has agreed to join the Total Croatia News team.
The fact that young Vivian has neither been to the Palace nor met the Queen is by the by, another example of the sensationalist inaccuracies of the Croatian media on occasion. As Total Hvar's original pedantic and unpaid editor-in-chief, I have been very grateful to Vivian for all her support, encouragement and advice since launching the project in October 2011. She has been there from the start, and our daily meetings for late morning refreshment at Cafe Splendid have become an important part of the Total daily routine.
Now happily enjoying a very busy and productive retirement in the village of Pitve on Hvar, Vivian had a distinguished physio career in the UK, including working with the British Olympic team in Moscow in 1980, and she is a distinguished author in the field of sporting injuries. Apart from berating Total Hvar for the continual typing errors, Vivian has been ploughing her energies into several projects at an age when others might take things a little easier. She founded the charity Eco Hvar last year, which has quickly become an environmental rallying point for people who care about green issues on Hvar and beyond, and her lobbying is mirrored by some of her fantastically detailed research on key issues, such as this piece on the dangers of Glyphosate, an article which deserves a global audience.
Not only that, but Vivian is also making progress to open the first animal shelter on Hvar, and anyone with an interest in getting involved is welcome to contact her. Her passion for all things Dalmatia is reflected in this extraordinary piece she wrote recently about a new interpretation into Diocletian's Palace.
Viv will be contributing as time permits, and she will bring a welcome closer look at some of the environmental issues in Croatia, as well as whatever else she feels like sharing with us. Welcome, Grofica, and thanks for your continued support. The next coffee must be on me. A little about Vivian - by Vivian.
"Born in London, where her Croatian parents had finished up as refugees from the Second World War, Vivian Grisogono lived in England for most of her life, but came to live permanently on Hvar when the opportunity rose in 2004. Educated at St. Paul’s Girls’ School and Oxford University, after graduating in Modern Languages she took up physiotherapy and specialized in sports injuries. During the 1991 – 1995 war against Croatia she organized and participated in projects to help the war victims. She has done extensive teaching and writing, and in 2012 published her tenth book, a completely new version of ‘Sports Injuries a Self-Help Guide’. On Hvar her time is divided between treating patients, writing, tending her olives, looking after numerous dogs and cats, and promoting measures for improving health and caring for the environment."
You can contact Vivian via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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